last poll of 2012-13.North Carolina moved up one place to four

ARLINGTON, Texas - With the Blue Jays winners of four-in-a-row and eight of 11, TSN.ca sat down with veteran Mark DeRosa to discuss the state of the club, its chances of emerging from the basement of the American League East and the leadership of manager John Gibbons. Heres the transcript of the discussion: TSN.ca: The team is starting to come together here, I guess winning does that, but have you seen a process thats led the results of late? DeROSA: Well, obviously, were getting really good starting pitching performances. I mean, Mark Buehrle, hes had three or four just really, really good starts in a row. Getting (Josh Johnson) back, hopefully we get Brandon (Morrow) back, Chien-Ming Wang came in and gave us almost eight innings the other night. R.A. (Dickey) always takes the ball every five days. I think its just a situation where were getting a little bit more consistent, the lineups getting more consistent, seems to be the same guys against the same matchups. Guys are kind of knowing where they fit in and what their roles are. Weve had guys like Adam Lind just take off and really, really solidify that four-hole and give Edwin (Encarnacion) some serious protection. Its just about getting healthy. We all knew the talent was here, it was just a matter of how long could it go this bad without changing. I think were all excited that were playing better. I think we realize there are reinforcements coming in the likes of Jose Reyes, Brett Lawrie and Brandon Morrow. Those are three key pieces that certainly are going to help us. TSN.ca: The expectations, all the new faces, you guys coming together, does a team with all these new faces, in a city thats starved for a winner, need some time just to gel and relax? Were guys trying to do too much early? DeROSA: Well I think so. I mean I cant speak for everybody. I know thats what it certainly appeared to be. I think I told you this in spring training, I was in a similar situation in 07 in Chicago with a lot of new faces and a new manager and just a lot of expectations thrust on a team that spent a lot of money. We got off to a very similar start, maybe not as bad as the start we got off to here pretty similar and found ourselves constantly trying to claw our way back to .500 to give ourselves a chance in the second half. We were able to do it and end up winning the division so by no means has anyone lost confidence in here. If anything its only kind of slowing growing. I look forward to us playing good for the rest of the year. TSN.ca: In your experience back then was there a turning point with that Cubs team? DeROSA: I think we were about six games back at the time. We were playing Milwaukee, a day game in Wrigley and Aramis Ramirez, we were pretty much out of the game, Aramis Ramirez hit either a three-run homer or a grand slam in the bottom of the 8th to send us to the W. I mean, you go from eight games potentially back to five, it was almost like a three-game swing for us and it kind of just, the fans lit up, everyone went crazy and it was a springboard for us getting hot. Obviously Lou (Piniella,) hes a fiery guy, I think a lot of the early season struggles was getting to know his style, him getting to know us, maybe trying to do too much like we were doing here. I think a lot of factors pointed to it but at the end of the day we never lost confidence in the fact that we were really good and really talented, it was just a matter of it coming out. TSN.ca: Well probably need hindsight for this but is the type of home run that Jose (Bautista) hit in Chicago, with two strikes and two outs in the ninth to tie the game and you win in extras, could that be a turning point? DeROSA: And then I also think a situation like today. You come into todays game, its a situation where weve won three games in a row off a good team, we seem to match up well. I mean, if were able to pull off a four-game sweep in Texas against a team thats gone to two of the last three World Series can only boost your confidence going forward. Theyre a great team over there, a lot of respect for them, so to come in here and continue to play well. But yeah, there are moments when youve got to get lucky. It seemed like early in the season everything we did kind of blew up in our faces. Every error cost us a run, every missed pitch execution-wise was a homer, it was just one of those situations. Maybe we can get it going, trending in the other direction. TSN.ca: We dont know when Bretts going to be back but what does he need to do when he returns? DeROSA: Relax. I think thats the one word, relax. We need him to be Brett. We dont need him to try and carry us, we dont need him to try and be the man, we just need him to play his game. I think him relaxing and his infusion of energy into the clubhouse is something that makes any clubhouse better, I really believe that. Hes a fiery guy, he keeps everyone on their toes, and the energys infectious, it really can be at times when youre playing a game in Texas in 100-degree heat. I think thats the thing, weve got a nice flow to the lineup right now, like I said Gibbys been consistent with the lineups hes thrown out there. Our bullpens been phenomenal, I hate to not mention that, theyve been phenomenal. I kind of give them, I dont want to say a pass, but a situation where I expect it kind of out of them now. That goes without saying but our starting rotation, hopefully with Brandon coming back, can get comfortable. Josh throwing the ball the way hes capable of and a consistent lineup, whether it be against righties or lefties, whatever Gibbys doing that day, just lets us relax and have fun and play. TSN.ca: The manager, earlier on, came under some criticism. As a player youve played for a lot of different guys, we just talked about Lou, how has John Gibbons performed under the circumstances? DeROSA: Unreal, unreal. You know, you probably couldnt say it in the press and I know guys would bite their tongues, you know sometimes maybe the manager, guys dont see eye to eye with him and you can understand maybe some things getting written. But with John, no, it couldnt be further from the truth. Not at all. Hes a mans man, he treats us like men, he expects us to show up and perform and be accountable and be an adult. For me hes been absolutely everything I thought hed be from the guys I talked to coming in. Hes been awesome and to watch him go through that early-season criticism was really, really difficult because it had absolutely nothing to do with him or anyone on the coaching staff. We were just playing bad, bad baseball so Im glad that weve gotten on this little streak. I hope we can keep it going for the remainder of the season because hes been a great manager. Stitched Phillies Jerseys . Andrew Luck lost his favourite target and the Indianapolis locker room lost one of its most revered leaders when Reggie Wayne was diagnosed Monday with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that will cost him the rest of the season. Cheap Phillies Jerseys . Carey Price didnt, but he still came out on top against one of his rivals for the No. 1 job at the Sochi Games. The Anahim Lake, B.C., native was stellar in making 39 saves in his home province and Lars Eller got credit for a bizarre short-handed winner as the Canadiens defeated the Canucks 4-1. https://www.cheapphilliesjerseys.us/ . Robredo, ranked No. 16, bounced back from an upset loss to Leonardo Mayer in the second round of the Royal Guard Open in Chile last week to down Carreno Busta in 1 hour, 25 minutes. On a day filled mostly with qualifying matches, fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also entered the second with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, while Guido Pella of Argentina defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4 to advance. Custom Philadelphia Phillies Jerseys . Its sharpness matched my mind. This was no night to go to sleep. Wholesale Phillies Jerseys . "Were just throwing s--- at the wall hoping something sticks," said Tortorella about the possible line combinations for Fridays game against Columbus. The Canucks have lost five straight games and six of their last seven, leaving them in a logjam in the Pacific Division, currently sitting fifth - good for ninth in the Western Conference. Kentucky moves into the No. 1 spot in The Associated Press college basketball poll, replacing Duke, which dropped to sixth following its final-seconds loss to Kansas in the Champions Classic.The Wildcats (4-0), who also beat then-No. 13 Michigan State in the Champions Classic, received 42 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel in the poll released Monday . Kentucky was ranked No. 1 for two weeks last season.Defending national champion Villanova (5-0) moved up one spot to second with 21 No. 1 votes following a four-win week that included one at then-No. 15 Purdue.Indiana (3-0), which moved up three places to third, received the other two first-place votes. This is the Hoosiers highest ranking since they were third in the next-to-last poll of 2012-13.North Carolina moved up one place to fourth and was followed by Kansas, Duke, Virginia, Arizona, Xavier and Louiisville.ddddddddddddGonzaga jumped three spots to 11th and was followed by Creighton and Oregon, which fell from No. 4 to 13th after losing to Baylor.UCLA was No. 14 followed by Saint Marys, Wisconsin, Purdue, Syracuse, West Virginia and newcomer Baylor.The last six are Iowa State, Texas, Rhode Island, Michigan State, Michigan and Florida State. Michigan and Florida State, the weeks other newcomers, tied for 25th.Baylor (3-0), Michigan (4-0) and Florida State (4-0) replace Cincinnati and California, which were 24th and 25th last week. Cincinnati and California were both ranked for one week.The Atlantic Coast Conference leads with six ranked teams while the Big Ten and Big 12 have five each.---More AP college basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org ' ' '